Suppressing Ice Nucleation of Supercooled Condensate with Biphilic Topography

Youmin Hou, Miao Yu, Yuhe Shang, Peng Zhou, Ruyuan Song, Xiaonan Xu, Xuemei Chen, Zuankai Wang, and Shuhuai Yao
Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 075902 – Published 16 February 2018
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Abstract

Preventing or minimizing ice formation in supercooled water is of prominent importance in many infrastructures, transportation, and cooling systems. The overall phase change heat transfer on icephobic surfaces, in general, is intentionally sacrificed to suppress the nucleation of water and ice. However, in a condensation frosting process, inhibiting freezing without compromising the water condensation has been an unsolved challenge. Here we show that this conflict between anti-icing and efficient condensation cooling can be resolved by utilizing biphilic topography with patterned high-contrast wettability. By creating a varying interfacial thermal barrier underneath the supercooled condensate, the biphilic structures tune the nucleation rates of water and ice in the sequential condensation-to-freezing process. Our experimental and theoretical investigation of condensate freezing dynamics further unravels the correlation between the onset of droplet freezing and its characteristic radius, offering a new insight for controlling the multiphase transitions among vapor, water, and ice in supercooled conditions.

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  • Received 15 May 2017
  • Revised 25 September 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.075902

© 2018 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Youmin Hou1, Miao Yu1, Yuhe Shang1, Peng Zhou1, Ruyuan Song1, Xiaonan Xu1, Xuemei Chen2, Zuankai Wang3, and Shuhuai Yao1,*

  • 1Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong 999077, China
  • 2MIIT Key Laboratory of Thermal Control of Electronic Equipment, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China
  • 3Department of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong 999077, China

  • *meshyao@ust.hk

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Issue

Vol. 120, Iss. 7 — 16 February 2018

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